The great Progressive experiment, a far left ideology that rears it’s ugly head every few decades, only to fail time and again, has just about run it’s course. And as is always the case, it leaves financial devastation in it’s wake.

The first Progressive President was Republican Theodore Roosevelt. And for those that thought only Democrats could be progressives, think again. Even today we have many Republican Progressives in office from Mitch McConnell, John McCain, Lindsay Graham, John Boehner, Eric Cantor – just to name a few. And what was Teddy Roosevelt’s grand ideas? He initiated the “Square Deal” that would address his primary concerns for the era—the three C’s: control of corporations, consumer protection, and conservation. Sound familiar?

Teddy saw corporations as evil and thought that he and his Progressive allies should pick winners and losers. And his efforts to “preserve” land are still being fought today. Just ask Cliven Bundy.

When Roosevelt tired of being President, he hand picked a successor, Howard Taft. Unfortunately for Roosevelt, Taft was not as Progressive as he imagined, nor was he easy to control. So Roosevelt challenged him in 2012 for the Republican Nomination – and lost. And what with Progressives being sore losers and all, Roosevelt formed his own party, the Bull Moose Party as a Republican Progressive alternative to the more Conservative Taft. And of course there was a Progressive Democrat in the race that befitted by the party splitting move.

The Republican / Bull Moose platform called for Women’s Suffrage, Federal Regulation, Labor and Health Legislation – free health care for women and children, a Living Wage and Social Insurance. And Roosevelt lost because the Democrats had a better idea to tax, spend and regulate on a much higher level than the Roosevelt Republicans. The Democrats promised to crush banks, big business and make America “fair”.

Woodrow Wilson said about the two Republican parties:

“The two things we are fighting against, namely, excessive tariffs and almost universal monopoly, are the very things that these two branches of the Republican party both decline to combat. (…) They intend to accept these evils, and stagger along under the burden of excessive tariffs and intolerable monopolies as best they can through administrative commissions. I say, therefore, that it is inconceivable that the people of the United States, whose instinct is against special privilege and whose deepest convictions are against monopoly, should turn to either of these parties for relief when these parries do not so much as pretend to offer them relief.”

Woodrow Wilson, the first Democrat Progressive President left us with the Federal Income Tax (thanks to Taft’s efforts), a law that created the IRS and allowed the government to manipulate behavior by taxing or granting credits to force American’s to go along with whatever hair brained scheme the powers that be wished. And the erosion of freedom began, although Wilson believed that being left alone was not really freedom and that only a strong central government could make us really free. How little things change.

Next, Wilson moved to “fix” the banking system by creating the Federal Reserve Bank. How has that worked out?

Finally, Wilson moved on to pushing down big business with the help of his fellow Democrats. Only if big business is tightly regulated and controlled can America prosper. And he was especially fair to unions exempting them from the anti-trust act with the Clayton Act and they also passed an income tax on the top 5% of wage earners. And then there was World War I.

And the same story of failure happened again and again. It seems we never learn.

Progressives, either Democrat of Republican have a number of traits in common.

They all believe they know more than you.

They all believe that government is the answer to any problem

And if government did not solve the problem, more government is needed.

Progressives cannot admit failure and can only blame everyone that doubts them

None of their promises ever come true.

So with the long history of bankrupt social programs from New Deals to Great Societies, Barack Obama and the Democrat Progressives along with John Boehner, Eric Cantor, McConnell and the rest have managed to run up so much debt that we can never repay it. And they all promise more and more spending.

Once again, America is a laughing stock to the rest of the world and no longer has the clout to keep bullies like Vladimir Putin in check. The naive belief by Obama that all we need to do is a Neville Chamberlain-like appeasement curtsy to make the world love us is an absolute abomination.

People are finally beginning to see that Obama is a clueless farce and surrounds himself with incompetent fools at every level.

We already know that Progressives fail 100% of the time. But I fear that we may never stop bouncing between Republican and Democrat Progressives looking for the answer, all the while pointing at those who know government is too large as extremists.

Tom is a US Navy Veteran, owns an Insurance Agency and is currently an IT Manager for a Virginia Distributor. He has been published in American Thinker, currently writes for the Richmond Examiner as well as Virginia Right! Blog.
Tom lives in Hanover County, Va and is involved in politics at every level and is a Recovering Republican who has finally had enough of the War on Conservatives in progress with the Leadership of the GOP on a National Level.

This is brilliantly written. Understanding that Woodrow Wilson essentially began this headache is important. (though we shouldn’t forget about the regulatory nightmare which was Theodore Roosevelt). But this movement has been steady, unwavering, and nibbling. We enjoyed Coolidge, but lost interest in the fight. Couldn’t really muster up the courage to fully back Goldwater. Enjoyed an incredible time under Reagan. Blips on the political timeline. Just blips. We need our own 100 year movement. We must possess the same commitment!